Jeff Merkley on Principles & Values

Democratic Jr Senator (OR)

Endorsed by Sen. Wyden; I’ll be his partner

Smith made frequent reference to his ability to work both sides of the political aisle. He often cited his ability to work with Sen. Ron Wyden, his Democratic counterpart representing Oregon. He said he also has taken on Bush on several issues over the
years and has worked with Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for president.

But Merkley said he has been endorsed by Wyden. “Sen. Wyden needs a partner in Jeff Merkley,” he said. Merkley said Smith has voted with Bush 90% of the time.

I’ve lived a pretty unconventional life

In his mid-20s, Jeff Merkley hopped a bus with a friend in Los Angeles and headed south for what would become a hairy, life-changing journey through revolution-torn Central America.
Merkley raced midget motorcycles as a child, and once owned--and crashed--a Harley. He roomed with an impoverished family in Ghana as a teen, hitchhiked across Israel as a young man and went on, as he puts it, to help shut down one of
Portland’s worst crack alleys. “I’ve lived,” he says, “a pretty unconventional life.”

Yet for all that, he has become best known as the “establishment” candidate in a field of less-experienced upstarts. “I started this race unknown to Oregonians,”
Merkley says. “What they hear is ‘speaker of the House.’ That sounds pretty uninteresting. There’s no way to convey in a 30-second ad the history of your life.”

Source: The Oregonian, “Oregon House speaker”
, May 1, 2008

Change direction and put America back on track.

We need to change direction and put America back on track. If my opponent, Gordon Smith, returns to Washington, it’s just more of the same, and we can’t afford that. Not in Oregon, not in America.

I’m the son of a mill-worker, the first in my family
to attend college. I believe in an America that gives every child the opportunity to fulfill his or her potential. I believe in an America that paves a broad road for families to thrive. It is time to make America work for working Americans again!

George Bush, John McCain, and Gordon Smith have given us a government that puts oil company profits ahead of drivers’ pain at the pump and tax loopholes that ship jobs overseas instead of tax relief for the middle class.

Y’know, my opponent talks like
Barack Obama, but he votes like George Bush. Oregon needs a senator who will fight for affordable health care, living wage jobs, an end to the war and a smart energy policy, not a senator who will give us more of Bush and McCain’s failed policies.

Voted YES on confirming of Sonia Sotomayor to Supreme Court.

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee kicked off the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. In her opening statement, Judge Sotomayor pledged a "fidelity to the law:"

"In the past month, many Senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. It is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law--it is to apply the law. And it is clear, I believe, that my record in two courts reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms; interpreting statutes according to their terms and Congress's intent; and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and my Circuit Court. In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand."

Rated 0% by the AU, indicating support of separation of church & state.

Merkley scores 0% Americans United for the Separation of Church and State

Scoring system for 2014: Ranges from 0% (supports separation of church & state) to 100% (opposed to separation of church & state).

About the AU (from their website, www.au.org):Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) is a religious liberty watchdog group. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom. AU is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans.

Americans United fights for church-state separation of a wide variety of fronts. Here are some of the issues we work on. We encourage you learn more about each of them. Knowledge is power.

Religion in Public Schools and Universities

Creationism & Evolution

School Prayer

Bibles and Religious Texts in Curricula

Student Religious Clubs

Religious Music

Religious Displays and Holidays

Pledge of Allegiance

Use of School Buildings by Religious Groups

The Faith-Based Initiative & Government Subsidies of Religious Institutions